Lights For Crystal Palace Skatepark

In late December, Crystal Palace Park was blessed with a new addition - the skatepark. Since that time the skatepark has been well used and has been positively received by people of all ages and riding abilities.

Now that summer is arriving we can use this amazing facility to its maximum. However, once the summer season is over and the days become shorter, it will become impossible for the park to be used to its full potential. After school or work sessions will no longer be possible due to the facility’s lack of lighting. The site already houses existing floodlights, but unfortunately they are not operational.

In response to this issue, we have come up with a few reasons why it would be a great idea for the skatepark to bring the floodlights back to life allowing us to use the skatepark to its maximum all year long. Firstly, given that the lights already stand, it would not cost anywhere near as much to fix them as opposed to the cost of building brand new lights from scratch. There arethree floodlights surrounding the skateparkfacility that would make the skatepark 100% lit up from all angles if switched on.

In regards to the worry of electricity costs, the lights could be on a timer system, or even having a button control that allows us to have them on for a certain period of time if being used. This option has been used in many skateparks around the UK, for example The Level in Brighton. If no one isusing the skatepark, then there wouldn’t be any energy or money being wasted.

Crystal Palace Park has a lot of facilities for the youth to practise their sports such as football, basketball, rugby and many more. They have the ability to use the lights on their pitches and keep practising their loved sport at any time of the year. Skateboarding, BMX-ing and other wheel sports are less fortunate and it is harder for us to keep practising our favourite hobbies in the wintertime.

As many of us are in work or education, we are limited to the point where we can onlyskateboard or BMX on the weekend. For many of us, this is not enough.

As of 2018, extreme sports are becoming more popular, and with skateboarding featuring in 2020 Olympics, youth of today need places like Crystal Palace Skatepark to be available at all times so we can get better at the activity we love.

We are hoping to get as many signatures and positive feedback towards this projectas possible so that we can achieve our goal of bringing lighting to the skatepark all year long and make the most out of this amazing place!